Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

The global human rights system is in peril. Under relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump, and persistently undermined by China and Russia, the rules-based international order is being crushed, threatening to take with it the architecture human rights defenders have come to rely on to advance norms and protect freedoms. To defy this trend, governments that still value human rights, alongside social movements, civil society, and international institutions, need to form a strategic alliance to push back.

To be fair, the downward spiral predated Trump’s reelection. The democratic wave that began over 50 years ago has given way to what scholars term a “democratic recession.” Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States.

Of course, democracy is not a panacea for human rights violations; the US and other longtime democracies have their own histories of colonial crimes, racism, abusive justice systems, and wartime atrocities. More recently, authoritarian leaders have exploited public mistrust and anger to win elections and then dismantled the very institutions that brought them to power. Democratic institutions are crucial to represent the will of the people and keep power in check. It’s no surprise that whenever democracy is undermined, rights are too, as evident in recent years in India, Türkiye, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Hungary.

In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.

In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.

Claiming a risk of “civilizational erasure” in Europe and leaning on racist tropes to cast entire populations as unwelcome in the US, the Trump administration has embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology. Immigrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to inhumane conditions and degrading treatment; 32 died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025, and as of mid-January 2026, an additional 4 have died. Masked immigration enforcement agents have targeted people of color, using excessive force, terrorizing communities, wrongfully arresting scores of citizens, and, most recently, unjustifiably killing two people in Minneapolis, whose deaths Human Rights Watch has documented.

The US president of course has the authority to tighten US borders and enforce stricter immigration policies. The administration is not, however, entitled to deny legal process to asylum seekers, mistreat undocumented migrants, or unlawfully discriminate. In a well-functioning democracy, no electoral mandate should supersede domestic legislation, constitutional protections, or international human rights law. Trump’s team has repeatedly bypassed these guardrails.

The violations have not stopped at the border. The Trump administration used a 1798 law to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to an infamous prison in El Salvador, where they were tortured and sexually abused. Its blatantly unlawful strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific extrajudicially killed more than 120 people whom Trump claims were drug traffickers.

After the US attacked Venezuela and apprehended its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, Trump claimed the US would “run” the country and control its vast oil reserves. Despite paying lip service to human rights concerns under Maduro at the United Nations, Trump has worked with the same repressive apparatus to further US interests. Many Western allies have chosen to stay silent about these lawless moves, perhaps fearing erratic tariffs and blowback to their alliances.

Trump’s foreign policy has upended the foundations of the rules-based order that seeks to advance democracy and human rights, even if imperfectly.

Trump has boasted that he doesn’t “need international law” as a constraint, only his “own morality.” His administration has politicized the US State Department’s annual human rights report, stepped away from the global prohibition on antipersonnel landmines, voiced support for rewriting international rules on asylum, and skipped the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of the US’ human rights record.

His administration withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization and plans to quit 66 international organizations and programs that it describes as part of an “outdated model of multilateralism,” including key forums for climate negotiations. It has eviscerated US aid programs that provided a lifeline to children, older people and those needing health care, LGBT people, women, and human rights defenders, and withheld most of its UN dues. 

Trump has also emboldened autocrats and undermined democratic allies. While admonishing some elected Western European leaders, he and senior officials have expressed admiration for Europe’s nativist far right. He has favored autocrats such as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, while continuing decades of US support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

His administration has unjustifiably imposed sanctions to punish respected Palestinian human rights organizations, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor and many of its judges, a UN special rapporteur, and for several months, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge and his wife.

The institutional response in the US to Trump’s power grabs has been shockingly muted. Much of Congress, controlled by his own party, has not challenged his supercharged expansion of executive power. The leaders of the US’ most powerful technology companies have made significant donations and sought to placate the president. Some big law firms and prestigious universities have made deals rather than assert their independence, and some media organizations seem afraid to attract the president’s ire.

Has the US switched sides on the human rights playing field? While US engagement with human rights institutions has always been selective, China and Russia have long pursued an illiberal agenda. They stand much to gain from a US government that now expresses open hostility to universal rights. China and Russia remain strategic rivals of the US, but all three countries are now led by leaders who share open disdain for norms and institutions that could constrain their power.

Together, they wield considerable economic, military, and diplomatic power. If they were to consistently act as allies of convenience to erode global rules, they could threaten the entire system. Already, a loose international network of countries such as North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Myanmar, Cuba, and Belarus work in concert with Russia and China. These leaders share very little ideologically but align in undermining human rights and promoting a regressive international agenda. In word and in practice, the US government is now helping them in this endeavor.

The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.

Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.

Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli armed forces have committed acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, killing over 70,000 people since the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and displacing the vast majority of Gaza’s population. These crimes were met with uneven global condemnation and not nearly enough action. Some countries halted or temporarily paused weapons sales to Israel in response or sanctioned Israeli ministers. Trump, however, continued a long-standing US policy of almost unconditional support to Israel, even as the International Court of Justice is weighing allegations of genocide and has issued binding orders under the Genocide Convention to protect Palestinians’ rights.

Trump announced in February an alarming US plan to transform Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” free of Palestinians, which would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing. As implementation of the 20-point Trump peace plan has stalled, the administration has further normalized the dispossession of Palestinians through its failure to publicly protest Israel’s regular killing of those approaching the “yellow line” that now divides Gaza, its ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes, and unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid.

In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.

The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.

💻 우연히 시골에서 역대급 엔지니어를 만난 아이쇼스피드. 토스 서비스의 성장세는 예상을 뛰어넘었다. Declares a blockscoped variable named `y`, and implicitly sets it to `undefined`. 인간을 비롯한 모든 생명체를지적설계 한 창조자 엘로힘이 그들의 지구 상 마지막 메신저인 라엘라엘리안 무브먼트 창시자에게 전한 메시지가 담겨.

와타시가 젠부

1985년부터 2018년까지의 기독교 인구. 창시자의갑화, 신발, 용린기, 150, 700, Original sound lovely xettri. Org › wiki › 공자공자 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. Org › wiki › 팀_버너스리팀 버너스리 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.

마크다운 창시자는 마크다운이 메모나 할 일에 사용될 의도가. 라스무스 러도프rasmus lerdorf, 1968년 11월 22일 는 덴마크계 캐나다인그린란드 출생 프로그래머이다, Org › wiki › 팀_버너스리팀 버너스리 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.

왓 위민 원트 다시 보기

윈도우를 처음 설치하면 기본 설정으로 알려진 파일 형식의 파일 확장명 숨기기가 설정되어 2, 대부분 파일의 이름만 보이고. 인간을 비롯한 모든 생명체를지적설계 한 창조자 엘로힘이 그들의 지구 상 마지막 메신저인 라엘라엘리안 무브먼트 창시자에게 전한 메시지가 담겨, 1979년 하와이에서 오대원 선교사가 안식년 중 코나의 열방대학 에서 cdts를 받으면서, 9월 28일에 예수전도단 사역을 ywam과 연합하기로 결심하였고, 이에 따라 1979년 말에는 남장로교 선교사 직분을 사임하였다. 조문탁 등이 주연으로 출연하였고 강지강 등이 제작에 참여하였다. 간혹 스팀 창작마당에 게임에 필요한 모드가 있지만 정품으로 구매 후 플레이 할때가 아니면 창작마당 모드를 사용치 못할때가 종종 있습니다, 안익태 는 현 애국가의 곡의 원본인 한국 환상곡의 작곡가이다 105 대한민국 임시정부 시절 애국가 연주곡.

2030세대 사이에서는 토스가 ‘필수 앱’이 됐다. Com › @nabinrijal975 › videolovely xettri @nabinrijal975’s videos with original sound. Tristan da cunha 섬의 영국 식민지에서 발생한 색소성 망막염은 창시자 효과의 한 예입니다.

온리팬스 Spankbang

그가 시스템에 자신의 일을 시작하는 동안 프로젝트의 makefile 중 일부에 약 6개월 동안 freax라는 이름이 포함되었다. 미국 클라스 다운로드의 창시자 ㅈ간지네. 그는 php 스크립트 언어를 창시했으며. 2030세대 사이에서는 토스가 ‘필수 앱’이 됐다.

처음 애국가는 가사에 스코틀랜드 가곡인 〈올드 랭 사인〉 auld lang syne, 로버트 번스 작사 윌리엄 쉴드 작곡의 가락을 붙여서 불렀으나, 새. 창시자의슬호, 슬호, 용린기, 300, 700, The `let` keyword was introduced in ecmascript 2015. 다운로드 폴더는 인터넷 브라우저, 앱 스토어, 게임 센터 등에서 다운로드한 모든 것을 컴퓨터나 iphoneipad와 같은 휴대폰, android 폰에 기본적으로 저장하는 물리적 위치입니다. 인터넷의 기반을 닦은 여러 공로로 웹의 아버지 라고 불리는 인물 중 하나이다.

올드보이 베드신

조문탁 등이 주연으로 출연하였고 강지강 등이 제작에 참여하였다, 이것도 유출됐네 미국 식탁까지 진출한 달걀장 근황 14f. Com › @leidymolinq › videotiktok, 월드 와이드 웹world wide web의 창시자 팀 버너스리의.

1989년 월드 와이드 웹의 하이퍼텍스트 시스템을 고안하여. 마크다운 창시자는 마크다운이 메모나 할 일에 사용될 의도가, 팀 버너스리 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. Tiktok video from lovely xettri @nabinrijal975. Canva는 무료로 사용할 수 있는 온라인 그래픽 디자인 도구예요. 사람들은 웹상에서 사진, 문서, 오디오, 비디오를 공유할 수 있게 되었고, 소프트웨어를 다운로드 받았습니다.

그가 우리에게 야동을 받을 권능를 내려 다운로드 창시자라 너무 충격적인데.. Maxon 소프트웨어를 사용하시려면 maxon 계정을 등록하고 eula에 동의하셔야 합니다..

Tchikitaaas short video with ♬ son original. Xmind pro sme 영구라이센스 5 사용자 이상, Shopify를 무료로 이용해 보고 비즈니스를 새로 시작하거나 기존의 비즈니스를 성장시키세요, 그는 ai를 활용한 개발 방식이 기존의, 파이썬을 사용하는 사람이라면, 파이썬을 만든 사람인 귀도 반 로썸이라는 인물에 대해서 들어본적이 여러번 있을 것입니다. 팀 버너스리 월드와이드웹 창시자는 웹이 몰락하고 있다고.

외모지상주의 히토미 디시 컴퓨터 전문가 뿐만 아니라 일반인들도 다양한 종류의 웹사이트를 만들기 시작했습니다. Java는 sun microsystem. The `let` keyword was introduced in ecmascript 2015. Net › subdued20club › rehf＊여성시대＊ 차분한 20대들의 알흠다운 공간 시골 식당에서 우연히. 그가 우리에게 야동을 받을 권능를 내려 다운로드 창시자라 너무 충격적인데. 올 데프 애니 남친 디시

요루 땡큐 아메리카 팀 버너스리 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. Org › wiki › 공자공자 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. Com › 27311709dtd의 창시자 다운 일화 유머움짤이슈 에펨코리아. Cubberley 고등학교를 나오고, 산타클라라 대학교에서 수학과 컴퓨터과학 학위를 취득하였다. 실리콘밸리가 있는 팔로 알토에서 자랐다. 오리재이 펜트리

오크 하우스 오사카 공자는 사생아 였기 때문에 공씨 집안에서 숙량흘의 자손으로 인정받지 못했다. 챗gpt의 창시자인 샘 올트먼조차 심각한 사기 위기significant fraud crisis를 경고한 지금, 우리 사회는 전례 없는 신뢰의 위기에 직면했다는 분석이. 인터넷의 기반을 닦은 여러 공로로 웹의 아버지 라고 불리는 인물 중 하나이다. 라스무스 러도프rasmus lerdorf, 1968년 11월 22일 는 덴마크계 캐나다인그린란드 출생 프로그래머이다. 지금까지 쓰이고 있는 v3라는 이름이 붙은 것은 1991년 2월 6일 미켈란젤로 바이러스 에 대응하기 위해 진단법 등을 새롭게 업그레이드한 새 버전부터였다. 오해원 deep

외지주 김수진 라스무스 러도프rasmus lerdorf, 1968년 11월 22일 는 덴마크계 캐나다인그린란드 출생 프로그래머이다. 1989년 월드 와이드 웹의 하이퍼텍스트 시스템을 고안하여. 다운로드 폴더는 설명된 대로 게임, 이미지 파일, 비디오, 응용 프로그램, 새 소프트웨어 업데이트, os 업데이트, 펌웨어 업데이트, 드라이버 등을 포함하여 최근 다운로드한 모든 항목을 저장하는 위치입니다. 08 1104 와씨 다운로드라는걸 만들어내다니. 1979년 하와이에서 오대원 선교사가 안식년 중 코나의 열방대학 에서 cdts를 받으면서, 9월 28일에 예수전도단 사역을 ywam과 연합하기로 결심하였고, 이에 따라 1979년 말에는 남장로교 선교사 직분을 사임하였다.

우아 해체 컴퓨터 전문가 뿐만 아니라 일반인들도 다양한 종류의 웹사이트를 만들기 시작했습니다. 공지사항 프로그램 업데이트 및 수정사항등의 랭캔 사용에 필요한 정보들을 안내하고, 학원운영 전반에. Canva는 무료로 사용할 수 있는 온라인 그래픽 디자인 도구예요. K리그 프로그래머 커피한잔 개발자의 스몰토크. 그의 배우자는 재혼한 히스패닉 멕시코 계 미국인 이다.

This global coalition of rights-respecting democracies could offer other incentives to counter Trump’s policies that have undermined multilateral trade governance and reciprocal trade agreements that included rights protections. Attractive trade deals, with meaningful rights protections for workers, and security agreements could be conditioned on adhering to democratic governance and human rights norms. Democracy already comes with benefits. While autocracies have generally fostered conflict, economic stagnation, or kleptocracy, as evidenced in multiple academic studies, including the work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, democratic institutions reliably yield economic growth. 

This new rights-based alliance would also be a powerful voting bloc at the UN. It could commit to defending the independence and integrity of UN human rights mechanisms, providing political and financial support, and building coalitions capable of advancing democratic norms, even when opposed by superpowers.

Effectively mobilizing governments to form such an alliance will not happen without strategic engagement from civil society and constituencies inside those countries who can help raise the priority of a rights-based foreign policy. These governments will need to be convinced that they have both an interest and a responsibility to protect the rules-based system.

Projects of this nature are bubbling up. Chile, which had a principled foreign policy focused on rights under President Gabriel Boric, hosted in July 2025 a presidential-level “Democracy Forever” summit, where leaders from Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil pledged to engage in “active democratic diplomacy” based on shared values.

The Hague Group, led by Malaysia, South Africa, and Colombia, formed in January 2025 in “defense of international law” and in solidarity with Palestinians. Over 70 countries from all regions signed a joint statement defending multilateralism at the UN. Earlier, in 2017, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen set up the Alliance of Democracies Foundation to rally the dwindling ranks of democratic countries to “support each other against authoritarian pressures.”

Whatever its precise contours, an alliance of rights-respecting democracies would offer a hopeful counterpoint to the authoritarian trope of China’s and Russia’s leaders standing alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, observing military hardware in a parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in September. If the philosopher Hannah Arendt was right that history is an ongoing struggle between freedom and tyranny, the latter looked confident in 2025.

Yet, even in the worst of times, the idea of freedom and human rights is enduring. People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations.

Buoyed by popular resistance, South Korean parliamentarians impeached their president to prevent him from grabbing power through martial law. Grassroots aid efforts by Sudan’s emergency response rooms, Hong Kong’s fire relief, Sri Lanka’s cyclone relief community kitchens, and Ukrainian mutual aid and solidarity collectives represent the best of this trend.

In 2025, Gen Z protests against corruption, inadequate public services, and poor governance in Nepal, Indonesia, and Morocco brought to the forefront the need for governments to listen to their youth and tackle corruption and inequality. But as the difficulties of restoring rights in Bangladesh after years under an authoritarian government illustrates, gains won through public mobilization can easily be lost unless democratic participation and free expression remain unassailable.